Baking a sponge cake without an oven involves a little preparation with the pressure cooker so as to maintain temperature the same way it happens in a preheated oven. In a mixing bowl, add butter, oil, powdered sugar and whip for a minute or two. Once it looks creamy, add in the condensed milk and start whipping until thick and slightly fluffy. Sift all-purpose flour with baking soda and baking powder together then add the all-purpose flour mixture tablespoon at a time and mix well until finish the whole lot.
If the batter is thick, add a tablespoon or two of milk and get a little thick but pouring consistency. Grease the cake pan with butter or ghee then sprinkle a tablespoon of flour and tap the pan to stick all over the pan. Do not spread the flour with hands. Transfer the whole batter to the greased pan and flatten the surface. Sprinkle some chopped nuts like cashews, almonds or pistachio on top if you wish for extra taste.
Keeping the separator plate or any plate or stand inside the cooker and heat (to avoid burnt cake base) the pressure cooker without gasket, weight and water. Close the lid and heat the cooker on a medium flame for 10 minutes. Transfer the cake pan using a holder without touching the sides of the pressure cooker. Close the pressure cooker with the lid without gasket, do not keep the whistle on top and keep the flame to little above the sim and cook the cake.
Do not open the cooker until you get the smell of the cake because it will take around 5-10 minutes to cook well after you get the smell of the cake. Open the cooker and check whether it is done or not. If it is not done close the lid and cook till the skewer inserted comes out clean. The cake batter should not stick to the skewer if the inserted knife shows runny cake batter, your cake will take more time to cook.
If it is sticking slightly it will take 5-10 minutes to cook. Once cooked skewer will go inside like you inserted knife inside a sponge and comes out clean without any crumbs. To remove the cake from pan if you are in a hurry you can use the holder and remove the cake pan without touching the sides of the pressure cooker.
Allow the cake pan to cool around 20-30 minutes and run a knife all around the pan and invert the cake over a plate and tap at the bottom of the cake pan.
Ingredients
- Butter – 3 tbsp / 42.5g
- Oil – 3 tbsp / 42.5ml
- Powdered Sugar – 1/3 cup / 54g
- Condensed Milk – 3/4 cup / 240g
- Milk – 1 cup / 240ml
- Vanilla Extract – 1 tsp
- Flour/Maida – 1 1/2 cups / 195g
- Baking Soda – 1/2 tsp
- Baking Powder – 1 1/2 tsp
- Salt – 1 cup (for baking)
Instructions
- Prepare a 7-inch cake tin by cutting parchment paper for it.
Alternatively, you can use butter paper or grease cake tin with butter
and dust with flour. - Add 1 cup of salt in a pressure cooker, then plate a perforated
plate and a utensil wire stand in the bottom. Close the lid, remove the
whistle and let it heat in medium-high flame. - In a mixing bowl, add butter, oil, powdered sugar and whip for a
minute or two. Once it looks creamy, add in the condensed milk and start
whipping until thick and slightly fluffy. - Mix vanilla essence with the room temperature milk and keep aside for a minute.
- Sieve the flour, baking soda and baking powder together to mix everything well and incorporate air.
- Get back to the condensed milk mixture and add in half of the milk vinegar mixture and mix to ensure everything’s incorporated.
- Add all of the dry flour mixtures and whisk to ensure there are no
lumps. Gradually add rest of the milk mixture to form a smooth &
luscious batter. - Stick the parchment paper to the cake tin using a little bit of batter and then pour all of the batters inside the cake tin.
- Place the cake tin with batter carefully inside the cooker using
tongs/mittens and close. Adjust heat to medium-low and bake for 40-45
mins without the whistle. You can alternatively bake in an oven at 180 C
for 40 mins. - Check the cake with a toothpick by poking it in the centre, if it’s clear take the cake tin out, let it cool down to room temp.
- If you feel the crust is slightly crispy you can cover with a damp
muslin so that the steam does its job whilst the cake is out of the
cooker. - After the cake is at room temp, take it out, remove the parchment paper, slice and serve.
